Bombs kill US soldiers in Iraq

Attacks come as US claims it killed suspected fighters and captured a militia leader.

09 Feb 2008 07:04 GMT

Roadside bombings continue to target US and Iraqi army soldiers as well as Iraqi civilians [EPA]

For their part, US troops killed eight suspected fighters and captured 26 people - including an alleged Shia militia leader - in two days of raids across Iraq, the US military said.

The eight were killed on Thursday and Friday in separate raids targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq across the country's central and northern regions, the US military said.

At least 22 others were detained in those operations, it said.

Baghdad deaths

Also on Friday, Al Jazeera reported quoting Iraqi police that four bodies were found in Baghdad.

In other violence, Iraqi police said a roadside bomb killed three awakening council members and wounded eight others south of Baghdad on Thursday.

Such councils are comprised of mostly Sunni tribesmen who have partnered with American forces to oust al-Qaeda and other fighters from their hometowns.

Al Jazeera reports that during a meeting with the governor of Baghdad, tribal leaders and notables of Abu Ghraib called on the government to intervene to stop what they described as abuses by the Iraq army's Muthanna brigade.

Council's complaint

Separately, Basim al-Karkhi, the leader of an awakening council in Diyala, said that his group decided to close its offices in protest against the failure of Iraqi police to provide support for its members in the province.

A university student was shot dead by assailants in the centre of Mosul, a city in the north.

In Hawija town, three policemen were injured when a bomb targeting their patrol exploded.

In the southern Iraqi city of Wasit, the US army arrested a leader of a one of groups that split from the Mahdi Army militia and three other suspects during a raid.

In Nasiriya, police imposed a curfew in the city in anticipation of violence.

Propaganda videos

Last week, videos seized from suspected members of al-Qaeda in Iraq show children being trained as fighters for the group, Iraqi and US military officials have said.

Footage from the videos, which appear to show boys as young as 10 wearing masks while carrying weapons, was presented to reporters on Wednesday.

"Al-Qaeda in Iraq wants to poison the next generation of Iraqis," Rear-Admiral Gregory Smith, a US military spokesman, said during the presentation of the footage.

"It is offering children as the new generation of mujahedeen [fighters]."